Hi, and thanks for taking the time to read our page.

Let us introduce ourselves, we are Team 50, aka Stocky and Thatch, Phil Bacon and David Hancock.

UPDATE ! UPDATE ! UPDATE !

WE MADE IT !!!!, our trusty banger got us all the way to Barcelona, 1134 miles after leaving home, a few minor overheating problems that resulted in us having to have the heating on in 30 degree heat through the Pyrenees !, this was soon cured with a few cosmetic alterations to the grille, all part of the charm I suppose.

We travelled to Dover to catch the ferry on Thursday afternoon, passed a broken down banger on the M25 without realising it was one of ours, ( sorry New Life Homes in your MX-5 ) and caught the 13.45 sailing to Calais, on arrival in Calais we started to see some more contestants in the car park of our hotel, there were some great cars, a Jeep Cherokee done up as a cow, a Honda with a gun turret on the roof, the Borat team and Lightning McQueen to name but a few.

After a few beers, we made our way to the pub for registration and something to eat, a chance to chat to some of the other drivers.

A fun night was had by all, we got to bed about 3.30am and had to be up at 7 to get breakfast for the start at 9am. during the day we were set the challenge of car snooker, ie.  a picture of a red car, black car etc, we lost interest in this and went off route to take some pictures and go to the museum at the  Le Mans circuit. The day ended in Nantes with a boozy night, some French lads took a dislike to some of the cars which resulted in about nine cars being vandalised, mirrors ripped off, bodywork dented and one car with a broken window.

We set off on a wet Saturday morning trying to get out of Nantes, thank God for sat nav !, we stopped to help the pink minibus that had overheated thanks to oiks that poked a hole in the radiator the previous night. Thankfully the weather soon improved and our challenge of the day was to take photographs of specific items on a list, one of which was a French toilet sign, hmmm, we got some funny looks hanging around toilets with a camera !!

Anyway we rolled on towards Toulouse stopping at Cognac along the way for lunch, we didn't win the prize as one team got over 100 pictures of obscure items.

Another boozy night, in Toulouse this time, we spotted one of the other teams were parked in the car park right under our window and felt obliged to empty shower gel and shampoo all over it, this was revenge for being attacked with eggs and flour bombs earlier.

Setting off in the morning, we loaded up with 4 dozen eggs and many flour bombs, we ambushed a few teams as they left the hotel with our super soakers, we managed to egg the team that had got us the day before, revenge is sweet !

We reached the foot of the Pyrenees and the Gendarmerie were out in force, turns out it was only a cycle race though, not interested in us at all, our car started to overheat on the climb up through the mountains, so we had to modify the grille to get more cooling, this was achieved with the help of a hammer and a large spanner !

We crossed the border into Andorra without incident and drove on through to Spain, what a great sight to see the signs for Barcelona and know we were nearly there.

We arrived in Barcelona and made our way to our hotel for a shower and shave, then on to the Irish Rock Cafe for the final evening party, what a night, what a ride !

The weekend was fantastic and although our Stocky n Thatch 518 BMW was over heating resulting in the heater on full for the last day and a slight mod to the front grill being made over the Pyrenees she got us there..

She sounded like a tractor but we will miss her..

We managed to stop on the m25 for the broken down mazda but unable to help, stopped and gave radweld to the thunderbirds pink mini bus crew when they over heated, followed the 4 loons when they had problems with shudder only to watch their rear tyre expode at 70 MPH... Helped change their wheel with Richard doing a very respectable F1 style pitstop wheel change..
The problems started when we asked the Barcelona receptionist and a local taxi driver how long it would take to get to Girona airport.. They both said 25 minutes down the motorway so we bowed down to local knowledge and leisurely took the car to the main scrappy that is next to the airport.. They did not speak any English, kept us waiting an hour, let locals push in and were not a vehicle scrapping yard as we were lead to believe.. I know the 4 loons team had the same problem with this particular scrap merchant and were told that due to import tax they would not scrap the car..
We ended up selling it to a female worker at the scrappy for 50 euros, she called us a taxi and he informed us that Girona airport (pronounced "Hirona") was in fact another 100km away.. He drove fast but he had to stop for diesel and he got us there just as our flight was about to take off.
His wireless credit card swipe machine would not work on either of our cards so Phil had to find a cash point as the journey cost us 160 euros.. Ouch!!!
Ryanair cancelled the next 10 flights out due to low level cloud but ours had left so we had to pay another 100 euros each for another ticket and could not get a flight to Gatwick for 3 days... They got us on a flight to Bournemouth the next morning so after a bus into Girona, another hotel and a lost day we got home. A neighbour drove from Berkshire to pick us up and then took me to Gatwick the next day to retrieve my car which I had left there on the way down to Calais.. So 2 lost days and lots of expense..

If anyone is thinking about doing one of these rallys, I would recommend it with all my heart, it was an absolute blast, and we will be doing it again for sure.

Thanks again to all our supporters, if you have not donated yet, the site is still open to accept donations, please help us to break the £2000 barrier.

As seen in the Basingstoke Gazette on Thursday May 14th.

Thanks again and please dig deep.

Watch this space for more updates, fancy dress information (supplied by GIGGLES fancy dress shop in Fleet High Street).  All supporters will be sent a link for youtube after the event showing the red rocket in action. Visit www.barcelonabangers.co.uk for more info...

******* UPDATE ******* Here is the you tube link  = target='mytarget'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV0prc1GN1w

We would also like to say a huge "Thank you" to the following for their support:

www.blockbuster.co.uk  To Fran, Region 2 DM's, regional office Newbury, support centre Harefield Place and staff and customers of District 44.

www.baronsfarnboroughbmw.co.uk  To Ian and the team at Barons BMW Farnborough, a massive thank you for your generous donation and support. 01252 518185.

www.car-d-lock.com Vehicle Lock and Immobiliser Specialists  0800 1075154.

www.leonarddaborn.co.uk  Leonard Daborn Ltd, Specialists in One owner and Low mileage vehicles 01276 858340. 

 www.gigglesfancydress.co.uk/ Fab Fancy Dress Shop 01252 816009.

blackfall@hotmail.co.uk  Blackfall Race Graphics, high quality race graphics and vehicle decals 01388 731999.

www.merityre.co.uk    Merityre Specialists Hook, 01256 763555, Tyres, batteries, exhausts, wheels, brakes etc.

www.fwgym.co.uk Get Results at The Fitness Warehouse Health Club 01344 482123. Thanks to Steve and his team for the £210 donation and the energy drinks that helped keep us going!!!

Regards

Phil and David